The 2015 NFL Draft is only a few days away and people around the league appear quite confident that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will make Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston the No. 1 overall selection.
While that selection has been likely for months now, new details in the Buccaneers' vetting of the Heisman Trophy winner seem to confirm the fact that the team has done its homework on Winston and is comfortable with making him the new face of the franchise.
Speaking to the Tampa Bay Tribune, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told the paper that team officials spoke to upwards of 75 people in order to determine just who Winston is off the field.
"Maybe 25 years from now I'll write a book," Licht told the Tampa Bay Times. "We are not going to talk about the process. All I'll tell you is that the Glazer family, the head coach, the general manager, our staffs, we all couldn't feel more confident about the process we have gone through."
The Tribune reports that it determined the Buccaneers spoke to a number of Winston's family members, friends, teammates, former high school coaches, former college coaches and even an assistant state attorney. Naturally, the big off-field incidents were a focal point in their research on the quarterback -- a shoplifting incident, an alleged sexual assault -- but there was plenty of other aspects regarding Winston's character that the Buccaneers dived into as well.Â
Perhaps the most interesting nugget the Tampa Bay Times reported is that the Buccaneers spoke to an attorney in the Tallahassee State Attorney's office.Â
"He asked about our investigation, but more specifically they were interested in knowing if there were any reports of, or additional information in reference to, a second victim," Georgia Cappleman said. "I advised them that there was another woman who received some counseling services from Florida State University as a result of an encounter with Mr. Winston that was of a sexual nature."
Cappleman added that she told team officials that she doubts the second woman, who's story surfaced in a recent civil lawsuit against Winston, would be a problem going forward as she "doesn't even consider herself a victim," Cappleman told the Tampa Bay Times.
The team also spent plenty of time with Winston during the pre-draft process to get his side of the stories and worked him out extensively as well. Team officials did the same with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota as well, including a similar extensive vetting off the field.
Through it all, it seems to add up to Winston's name being the first called out by the commissioner on Thursday night.
"We feel very confident in the amount of work that we've done internally," Licht added. "And we've had work done externally through third parties and on and on. There have been no surprises."
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
